Thursday, 11 December 2014

Well, what an absolute blast of a trip I’ve just been on to
the beautiful Mediterranean island of Mallorca! I remember one of the first
ever climbing films that I bought over 10 years ago called Dosage II. It
documented a wide range of climbing all over the world and the episode that
really caught my attention was shot on the island of Mallorca showing a load of
strong guys Deep Water Soloing on amazing looking cliffs above the sea. Ever since I saw that clip I knew I just had
to visit the place and try it out for myself.

DWS Team: Me, Ed and Al

Your damn right!

Over the last couple of summers I’ve got more and more
excited about this weird and wonderful sport of Deep water soloing (DWS), doing
a number of small trips down to the south Coast of England to try it out, such
as Lulworth Cove, Swanage, Ansteys and every time I come away I want more! Its
an amazing experience to be climbing free, with no ropes or harness with the
ocean to catch you if you fall.

So I knew that Mallorca is the undisputed capital of DWS in
the world so with time on my hands and two other partners in crime Ed and Alistair Corbett we booked our cheap Ryanair flights and off
we went on a cold, wet November afternoon. After an uncomfortable two and a
half hour flight across Europe we landed at the capital of the island Palma. It
was dark and we picked up our bag and car hire and drove east across the island
to the small town of Sa Coma on the East coast.

The following day we were greeted by beautiful sunshine and
it was about 20 degrees! We coudnt get back in the car quick enough and drove
the long 10minute drive down the coast to where the main cliff for DWS is on
the Island called Cova del Diablo. This is the Holy Grail for DWS in the world!
A pristine piece of rock architecture over 100meters in length, 18meters high
and around 7-10 meters water depth. The first view of it was utterly inspiring
and I quickly got my boots on and got involved! I took it fairly steady to
start off with some nice easy traverses just above the ocean and then started
heading upwards. The routes felt
amazing, super steep and pumpy but with huge holds all over the place for your
hands and feet. Each time I reached the top of the wall I couldn’t stop smiling
with excitement. It was awesome!

So along with Diablo we also spent much time at the less
intimating but stunning Cala Barques further down the coast. Here were
beautiful coves and beaches with slightly smaller limestone caves and cliffs to
climb on. A great place to really push yourself without being too scared of
falling off! The rock was covered in amazing formations of Stalactites and
tuffas designed for climbing on and some of the clearest water I’ve ever seen.
So the next two weeks we threw ourselves at as many routes as possible climbing
some incredible lines and taking some BIG falls all with a soft landing.

We also managed to drag ourselves away from the sea cliffs
and have a day up in the hills above Palma, checking out the premier sport crag
on the island Fraguel. It did not disappoint! A clean limestone wall covered in
amazing formations and with out a doubt one of the best cliffs I’ve been to in
Europe. You could definitely have a great trip here just sport climbing.

All in all it was a fantastic trip and a great time to visit
the island due to it being out of season and so very few tourists and even by
late November the climate was still perfect being in the mid 20’s each day.
Could not recommend a trip more!